To ask whats theme worst service you've ever experienced in a restaurant or cafe?

[JellyDiamonds]

I wonder if it can beat what happened to us this afternoons?

Went out for Sunday lunch at a mid price range gastro pub type place. We used to be regualrs there and its always been excellent, however today it seemed to fall apart. Lots of new staff who I'd never seen before. We arrived, were seated with menus and drinks were orders taken. The drinks arrived quickly but my coke was flat and I had to send it back, a fresh drink was then brought to me but no apology was given and it seemed to get worse from there.

We sat and waited for our orders to be taken (menus obviously laid out in front of us), and we waited and waited and waited. In the mean time a family on a nearby table were starting to get really stroppy with the waiting staff because they'd also been sat there a long time and no one had taken their orders. We continued to wait, countless staff passed us and I'm not sure how they couldn't have noticed we were ready to order, but they ignored us. I could also see and hear a couple standing by the till arguing with the manager about poor service.

Eventually after waiting for over 30 mins a waitress appeared and admittedly did apolgise for the wait and took our order. Food arrived pretty promptly and my roast potatoes were burned, but worst of all was my cauliflower cheese. It was basically just lukewarm cauliflower with cold cheese sauce poured over the top, it obviously hadnt been put in the oven to brown off as it should be. It was revolting and made me feel physically sick, in fact it's quite possibly put me off cauliflower cheese for life. I didn't mention it to the waiting staff because I could see and hear other customers laying into them and didn't want to make a fuss. The waiting staff were all obviously inexperienced, I watched a young lad almost drop a bowl of soup over a childs head because he wasn't balancing them on his arms properly (I used to wait on and there is an art to carrying lots of plates, but you need to be taught it before actually waiting on). All the while manager just stood there, not directing the staff or stepping in to help.

So anyway it was shite and I'm actually quite shocked at the service ive received. I've always been lucky in restaurants and have always had pretty good service so this was an eye opener.

Can you beat it?

I can't get over the OP sitting there and letting all this happen because she and her husband didn't want to cause a fuss. How the hell could you sit there for THIRTY MINUTES and not flag down a passing waiter or waitress to take your order?

In a fish restaurant in Whitstable, some of our party ordered Cod with chips. I ordered a different fish which came with boiled potatoes. I asked if I Could have it with chips. Waitress looked down her nose and came back with "no that comes with boiled potatoes"

My son asked if we could could have a side order of chips. She said we could, so he asked her, very politely, could you serve Mums fish without the boiled potatoes and we will have a side order of chips.

She said, I have already told you that it comes with boiled potatoes, not chips.

Eurgh Pook wins. Actually heaved.

Oh, Florentina, I had a similar experience.

Went into a cafe which was festooned with grumpy notices saying they do NOT vary their dishes from the menu description in ANY way.

We ordered a sausage butty, asked if it could come toasted (as they had toast on the menu) No, we don't do toasties. We explained we didn't mean a toastie, just a sandwich made with toasted bread. NO. Oh, err, is the toaster broken? NO. Grudgingly the waitress agreed we could have sausages. We could have toast. But we would have to ASSEMBLE the sandwich OURSELVES.

Then in the end the sandwich arrived, made with toast as requested. Load of fuss and rudeness over nothing.

Like a couple of PPs, I've had a too salty Michelin starred experience too. It was`a significant birthday for me and I wanted to go to this restaurant which we'd been to a couple of times previously - and really enjoyed the food. But that evening everything was over-salted. I just about got through the starter, but my main course was inedible. When the waiter came to clear away our plates he noticed my main was virtually uneaten and asked what was wrong, so I said it was too salty. He whipped our plates away and said he'd talk to the chef-patron. After what seemed like an age, he returned and said, with something of a sneer, "chef says it's properly seasoned, it's meant to taste like that". I think we got two free glasses of wine though, but that really didn't help - drinking more wine on a half-empty stomach.

About a month later I was talking to a friend about it who said that they had had exactly the same experience, except she and her DH just ordered more bottles of wine to help them through the over-salted food. She said they were absolutely trollied by the time they left!

The rather mediocre hotel, in a university town, we stayed in where breakfast was waitress service. The cooked breakfast was lovely, but the 'toast' was just floppy, warm bread. I asked the youngish waitress (perhaps a university student?) if could be toasted a bit more please. She returned a few minutes later with the same floppy, warm bread and said "chef says it is toasted". My reply was "that's not toast, it's warm bread". We did eventually get some proper toast. I suspect that chefs don't even do the toast anyway - and what student doesn't live off toast and know what a good slice of toast should look like?

I once went to a Chinese restaurant in London with a group of American colleagues. Service was fine, but when the bill came, it was easily £30 more expensive than it should have been. The bill was handwritten and itemised in Chinese so you couldn't read anything specific other than the overall total. My American friends immediately started counting their cash without questioning it, but I said I think there's been a mistake. My friend called the waiter over, who insisted it was correct - until I spoke. He looked shocked and very awkward when he heard my British accent and promptly gave us the real total without another word. It seemed very much like they were trying to take advantage of tourists by charging more and hoping nobody questioned it. Not great.

A silly one for me - my dcs ordered a bowl of icecream each after dinner. It took an age to arrive and the waitress finally plonked three little bowls of ice cream on the table. It was liquid, and each one had a cake fork in it. Dh raised an eyebrow, said "really?" and the waitress wordlessly picked it back up and took it away. It might have been quite fun to watch three children eat melted icecream with forks, though.

I could be here all day...

Fairly expensive steak place - think 50 quid a steak kinda prices so you expect it to be bloody good. We got in there, got seated, got asked if we wanted an aperitif whilst perusing the menu. All good so far. I ordered a glass of a specific prosecco - not the cheapest, but certainly not Moet. Finished that glass, fancied another one, to be told they're run out. I asked for a glass of the cheaper on. 30 minutes later they came back and poured me a glass of Moet (4 times the price) so I told them I'd ordered the cheaper one. They apologized and 20 minutes later brought me the cheaper one. (yes, 50 minutes to get a glass of fizzy crap. Honestly).

Waiter came to take our food order when we'd been there around 20 minutes. Came back around 15 minutes later to say two of the four things ordered were unavailable. I re-ordered both my starter and main DHs meal was all available. Bah. Another 20 minutes go by when he comes back to say that starter is unavailable. Ordered something else, which came within 5 minutes.

As soon as we'd started eating our starters, our steaks arrived. They put them on the table next to our starters, so we sent them away until we'd finished. When the steaks returned, they'd clearly been put somewhere to keep warm and were like leather. We sent them away and asked for freshly cooked ones. The waiter apologized when we demonstrated just how inedible they were. This took 45 minutes thankfully by this time we'd got our wine. And another bottle of wine...

The new steaks arrived minus the prawns for him and the fois gras for me, and with plain mash instead of truffle mash. These took another 10 minutes to arrive.

At this point, the manager came over with a great big smile and asked if everything is ok with the meal. I told her all the issues, and that we'd been in there well over 2 hours and had just received our complete main course. She apologised, and offered us free desserts.

Meals finished, and we asked for the bill. This then took another 20 minutes to arrive, and had 3 glasses of Moet (yes they served one before I realized what they were giving me, but it still wasn't what I'd ordered, and I didn't drink it either and they took it away) and no prosecco, every single meal we ordered - even the unavailable ones and the ones we returned as they were inedible due to being kept too long, and of course the two desserts. I called the manager over and showed her the 4 starters and 5 main courses on the bill for 2 of us, told her what happened with my drinks. She adjusted the bill and brought it back straight away. I gave her my card immediately and 15 minutes later they still hadn't come back with the machine.

I ended up storming over to the bar - we were in there about 3.5 hours in total and had complained twice about the length of time things were taking, and they couldn't even bring me the fucking card machine in a reasonable time.

I paid and walked out.

The following week, they called DH and said they'd gone through the whole night's events and were offering us a free meal the following weekend to show them that they can give the service that is expected at such a restaurant. Against our better judgment and because it was the end of the month and we were skint but still wanted to go out for tea, we went back.

My chicken breast was completely raw in the middle. DH's rare steak was so well-done that it must have been cooking for an hour. Starter plates left in front of us for about 20 minutes after finishing eating them, and still there when mains were served. Scallop foam on my steak when I'd declared my shellfish allergy to them swollen faces don't put you in too good a mood. Drinks ordered completely messed up, with white wine brought over when we'd ordered Malbec, and small issues like sparkling water when we'd ordered still. We were there 2.5 hours for a starter and main-only meal, no desserts, coffees, anything, and were sitting for the majority of time without drinks and without any staff visible in the restaurant to ask.

The manager came over at the end, looking extremely sheepish when she realized how bad their 'make it up to us' evening had been. Not quite as bad as the previous week. She refunded us the previous week's meal too, and gave us a voucher for a meal at another restaurant in the same hotel, and apologized for the fact that they indeed couldn't get it right.

When I was young I used to have a weekend job in a soft play area at a zoo. We sold panninis and baguettes to order with different fillings, but only made ham, jam or cheese sandwiches that could only be sold to children.
The amount of times I had to say we couldn't make sandwiches despite having bread and an array of fillings in front of me was absurd. If the manager was around we used to make them anyway to stop complaints. But one time the manager found the remains of a tuna sandwich on a table. She grabbed it off the table and started screaming ' who made this tuna sandwich? We don't do sandwiches here!' The entire play area was stunned into silence.

I have so many, I could write a book.

But the one that stands out in my mind was in Australia, a very trendy bar Melbourne. It was mid-afternoon and all but empty. My DH ordered a sandwich. He took a bite and I heard a weird crunching sound. He spat it out and opened the sandwich to reveal pieces of broken glass!

I went to the bar to inform the waitress. She didn't say anything for a moment, and then said 'I don't know what to say'. We sat down to finish our drinks and she came over to give us the money back for the sandwich. No word of apology and certainly no offer to compensate (a free drink would have been nice!).

Once had to wait over 30 minutes for a breakfast in Frankie and Benny's. However they were absolutely packed plus there was a hen party of about 15/20 women in as well as the usual crowd. We didn't complain, just waited patiently. The manageress came over and apologised as she brought out our food and then knocked 50% off the bill.

The only place we go now is a small Italian restaurant, that is family run. Most of the restaurant staff are part of the family and they all eat there too. The food is spot on. The service is fantastic and in 5 years I've never had a bad dish. One time we had to wait 30 minutes for a table and the owner apologised and gave us our bottle of wine free. It's wonderfully cheap too. £4.50 for a three course lunch. £5.95 for a three course dinner. And the house wine is only £10 a bottle and is very nice.

It's family friendly (but not in the all singing all dancing way that you get in some places). The owner comes over and chats happily to his customers and regularly appeases fractious youngsters. There's a lovely atmosphere.

I just remembered a time I went to a well-known noodle chain already mentioned on here beginning with a W...

Friday night, me (18) and then-boyfriend (19) went out to eat. Incredibly busy, and because of the way the benches are laid out there were no gaps between us and the people on either side. We had a middle-aged couple next to us on one side (relevant) who ordered just before we did.

Ordered our food. I asked for mine without egg (or something like that, I forget what exactly). Ex-bf's food arrived. We knew the food would likely come separately but he politely sat waiting for mine to come before he started. Ages later, still no food. I told him he may as well start eating. We finally managed to collar a waiter (by which point he'd pretty much finished!) and they went off to find out what had happened.

Turned out my food had been made and put to one side to make it clear it had no egg. Nobody had bothered to bring it out and it seemed that the waiting staff assumed me and bf were with the middle-aged couple next to us (thought they were our parents or something I guess) and that I'd had my food and already finished it!

They did bring me it out eventually and did knock it off the bill, but I was less than impressed...

My poor dad always gets the short straw when we go out to eat as well. No matter what he orders it always seems that he gets the smallest portion or there'll be something else wrong. I remember one place on holiday they just didn't bring his food until the rest of us had nearly finished, and it was so tiny.

Oh, and then there was the massive but weird Chinese all-you-can-eat in Florida, where nothing was labelled properly. Nothing quite like biting into chicken and it clearly not being chicken...

I'm going to add one more, because it really stands out as terrible service, even more than bad food.

I was at a cafe and ordered a Caesar salad for lunch. It was awful. The lettuce sandy and the ratio of parmesan cheese to dressing was all wrong, so my mouth ended up dry with a coating of grated parmesan and I could barely swallow. Needless to say I didn't finish it.

When we were paying the man who appeared to be the owner or manager asked how our meals were, so I told him. He then proceeded to argue with me and yell at me that I was wrong. FFS why in the first place if you're not prepared for a negative response??

Prezzo in our local town. Awful service, surly waitress/manager and took 1 1/2 hours for food to arrive despite arriving at 6.30 with young children. They had no colouring pencils for the kids despite every other presto just putting them on the table. By 8, kids were starving and tired and understandably playing up.
Presto in next town has totally different service so must just be the staff in our local one (have been back without kids and service was no better so haven't returned since).

We went for an Indian meal for DS2's birthday a few years ago which was awful. I'd been to the restaurant previously and it had been great but hadn't been for a good few years. The place was very quiet (maybe 2 other tables in use) but they looked unimpressed that we were bringing children in (DCs were 13, 11 and 9!)

They took forever to take our order; when they did bring it, they didn't bring a side dish we'd ordered and zoomed off before we could let them know. We finally caught their attention and they brought it but by then we'd almost finished. We also tried to order more drinks but again, they zoomed off.

We then ordered pudding - 5 of us had ice cream but DS2 chose the cheesecake (quite odd in an Indian but it was his birthday. It arrived and was frozen! DH bent a spoon trying to help him break it up. In hindsight we should have complained but they literally weren't around to complain to. We had to stand up to leave before they brought us the bill.

I felt really bad because I had recommended it to try and get DS2 to choose somewhere different!

Oddly enough when I passed it recently, it's closed down. It's a shame because I used to go there quite often with friends when I was young, free and single and it was great.

Luckily an Indian buffet restaurant opened a couple of years later and the kids loved it there - lovely service and a good choice of food.

Chain Italian restaurant, in a certain location. It was so slow that one waiter thought we had been in the restaurant so long we must be waiting for the desert menu. We hadn't even been served our mains.
Asked for more drinks several times and whilst they found time to add the order to our bill they didn't seem to manage to get the time to actually serve the order. When our mains arrived ds had ordered pizza. The pizza cutter handle had been placed under the pizza, pity it didn't have a wheel.

3 1/2 hours in total. Terrible service but the best entertainment we could get as we wondered what they would do next and how long it would take them.

went to a cafe in Brighton with my son who was about 8.
We ordered a bowl of chips and a bacon sandwich.
The chips were kind of pale and uncooked looking with black bits on them, and the bacon in the sandwich was so burnt you got a mouthful of charcoal...
When I took it back to the counter, the man shouted at me that there was 'nothing wrong with the food' and 'get out of my cafe you stupid woman'.
He then escorted us to the door and banged the door shut hard on my leg.
nice.
That cafe is shut now.

I had an awful experience at my local pub-come steakhouse. We originally booked for 12 people but 6 people dropped out over the course of the week so amended to 6. They led us to a table for 4 people and we had to pull another table over ourselves as they just shrugged when we queried this.

The chicken was pink in the middle, steak was overcooked but cold. When we complained about the steak they put it BACK on the grilled. So then it was black and semi-warm. Clearly hadn't listened. We complained at the time and then a few weeks later on trip adviser as the manager has just made excuses about it being a 'relief' chef. We were basically the only customers in there.

My review got a horrible reply from management in which our party suddenly grew to 20 people, on 'the busiest night of the year so far!' and how they had 'bent over backwards to help us'. When in reality they had fought us tooth and nail to even get the steak removed from the bill when it hadn't been touched. I haven't been back since. I HATE the if you do leave negative feedback on trip advisor, they can reply and fight with you but unfortunately YOU can't reply to it to correct them. Annoyed just thinking about it.

One memorably bad experience from a pub in Holyhead in Wales as a child. Four of us ordered and they didn't have any of it, they recommended the pie so we all ordered the pie, then they dashed out and came back with a freezer shop bag! The place wasn't the cleanest either but my parents were too polite to say anything. The other week, in Wetherspoons, I ordered steak and my boyfriend ordered a burrito without the bread so salad, rice, meat etc, the waitress put the steak down in front of my boyfriend and said 'I presume'.. Erm no you presume wrong!

Because dh is away a lot when he is in this country we try to make a point of going out to different restaurants for Sunday Lunch. We try and use independant restaurants but apart from one in a whole year I cannot say it has been all that successful.

I've been having a meal in a restaurant where they brought out the hoover and started vacuuming before our mains were finished. We thought it was funny.

Not bad service as such. In Australia last year doing some early morning Christmas shopping at a mall. The food hall had a cafe that did sausage sandwiches and the like. It was still only about 10am and DH and I fancied bacon rolls. They did bacon burgers so we didn't think it would be an issue. It was. We eventually ordered two bacon burgers, hold the cheese, hold the salad and hold the burger!

A few years ago we went to a chain Mexican restaurant with a group of friends for my birthday (about 10 of us in total). After waiting 20 minutes for our drinks orders to be taken, the drinks still hadn't arrived almost half an hour later and our food order hadn't been taken. I kept trying to ask our waitress where the drinks were but she purposefully ignored me and kept walking. Eventually when she did stop, she scowled and snapped that she was very busy and couldn't we just be patient! Erm ok. Rude. 10 mins later and still no drinks....walked up to bar myself to ask where they were and was told we couldn't have them because they'd run out of cocktail jugs! Can't just have them served straight into glasses then please? No.

I found the manager and to be fair she was incredibly embarrassed and gave us so much off the bill I think we only ended up paying about £5 each including the food. Never been back though!

DH and I eat out a lot so I have loads...

Once time we went to a naice restaurant in Manchester which is frequented by WAG's and their ilk. Waiter randomly came over and asked us to move from our (prime) table. We were eating our mains and said "no thanks". Manager comes over - please move and we will give you a free dessert. We are intrigued now, but DH is in the middle of a juicy steak and does not like being interrupted...so "no thank you" again. Free liquers offered. DH politely asks the manager to bugger off and let him finish his steak in peace.

In the end they comped our entire meal and gave us free liquers and a free bottle of wine as a bribe to move. It turned out they were trying to clear the best tables for use by Manchester City footballers and their management. Totally worth it in the end - we sat in the bar playing spot the sleb through a drunken haze digesting our free food!

Less good was the time when a cockroach fell from the ceiling into my dinner - never went back there. That really put me off all Iranian food - which is a bit inconvenient as my DH is Persian. So I understand what the OP means about cauliflower cheese

I once took clients to Simpsons on the Strand on a week night - had high expectations but it was really bizarre. Three of us ordered fillet steak and they served sirloin, expecting us not to notice. The moules were really tiny and there were bits of cracked shell in there which made the dish pretty inedible. I wondered whether they were just trading on their "traditional" reputation or relying on the tourist dollar. Really, unexpectedly awful.

I'm a waitress.

this whole thread has made me feel like crying.

especially the poster on page 1 who says most service is shit because they employ unskilled people on low wages who'd rather be anywhere else. nice to know my profession is so respected.